ruesenberg



March 8, 1932. r c. A. RUESENBERG 1,843,843

MULTIPLE DISK CLUTCH Filed March 28, 1950 2 sheets-sheet 1 March 8,3932. c. A RUESENBERG MULTIPLE DISK CLUTCH Filed March 28, 1950 2Sheets-Shea wa s.

l ll

Patented Mar. 8,1932

NETED" stares PATENT OFFICE: P

CARL A. RUESENBERG, OF ROCK-FORD, ILLINOIS, AS'SIGiN'OR TO ROCKFORDDRILLING:

MACHINE CO.', OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOISmunrrrnnnrsx CLUTCH 'Application filed March 28, 1930. Serial No.439,565.

is almost entirely of stamped sheet metal construction for lightness andcheapness, as-well as greater compactness, the greater part of themachining work otherwise necessitated being eliminated, and-theassembling operations reduced to practically a absolute minimum. Theresulting light, compact, and comparatively inexpensive clutch issuitable for a much broader-range of uses.

Another important object of my invention is to provide a multiple -diskclutch adapted for assembly as a pre-assembled unit onto the flywheel ofthe automobile, a few bolts being all that is required in theinstallation of the clutch on the assembly floor, instead of the clutchhaving to be built up piece by piece in the installation thereof. Inthat way the assembling time at the carjfactory is cut down to aninsignificant fraction of thetime otherwise necessitated, and aproportionate saving in labor 'costis derived. This, furthermore, is ofadvantage in that the pie-assembled clutch unit canbe subjected to testat the factory of the. clutch manufacturer before the installationthereof,

and in that way the proper performance of the car when completelyassembled is assured beforehand. r

Another object of my invention consists in providing a clutch open atseveral points peripherally so-tha-tany dirt, grit, or oil that may getbetween the disks will have an ophave invariably been of extremelyandbusees, where this portunity of escaping so as not to interfere withthe proper functioning of the clutch.

The invention is illustrated in the accom'- panying drawings, whereinFigure 1 is a section showing the clutch of my invention as installed;

Fig. 2 is a sectional detail taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,;lookingin the direction of the arrows, and f Fig. 8 is a rear view of theclutch removed from the flywheel and showing certain parts broken awayfor the purpose of betterillustration.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding partsthroughout the views. "The reference numeral 5 is applied to theflywheel, which is arranged to be mounted on the rear end of the crankshaft in the usual way, and provides a central bearing 6 for the frontend of thed-riven shaft 7 that extends rearwardly into the gear boxofthe transmission. In the usual way, a housing is provided at the frontend of the gear box to. enclose the flywheel and clutch, and has a platewhich, when removed, affords access to the clutch for the purposes ment.

I of inspection and adjust- The clutch embodyingmy invention comprises ahousing 8 arranged to turn with the flywheel and having the drivingdisks 9 disposed therein between the driven disks 10. The latter arecarried on a drum 11 having a center hub 12 spli-n-ed, as indicated at'18, on the shaft 7. The housing '8, in accordance with my invention, isa sheet metal stamping,

generally invthe' form of a circular disk providing an integral backwall or back plate ll,

in lieu-of a separate-back plate, bent forward- I ly at three pointsequally spaced circumferentially of the disk on chords of the circle, as

to provide flat driving faces indicated at 15, it") inside the housing.The driving disks '9 are approximately hexagonal in shape, asillustrated in Fig. 3, and have three of the edges thereof flanged,as'shown at 17, and fit:

ting snugly Within the housing 8 in engagement with the driving faces16. The length of contact between each flange 17 and driving face 16 isclearly shown in Fig. 3, and it must be evident that there is much lesschance of play being developed between the parts with this sort of adriving connection than where lugs are provided on the periphery of thedriving disks and engaged in grooves in the housing. It must also beevident how much more economical this construction is as compared withthe other, because of the use of sheet metal stampings in place ofmachined parts. Pads or facings 18 are suitably secured, as by means ofrivets, to the opposite sides of each of the driving disks, and arrangedto have frictional driving engagement with the driven disks 10. Thelatter, like the driving disks, are stamped from sheet metal, and havelugs 19 on the'inner periphery thereof slidably received in slots 20provided in the flanged annular rim 21 of the drum 11. The latter, inkeeping with the spirit of this invention, is stamped from sheet metalto the generally channel-shaped crosssection illustrated in Figure 1,and has the edge of the inner annular flange bent at right angles andriveted, as at 22, to the flange of the center hub 12. The latter ispreferably forged. A split ring 23, fitting in an annular peripheralgroove 24 near the outer edge of the rim 21 of the drum, serves toretain the driven disks 10 on the drum. From the description thus far,it will be evident that the stamped sheet metal construction of theclutch makes for extreme simplicity, compactness and lightness, andavoids a great deal of expensive machine work. For example, it was quitecommon in multiple disk clutch design to provide a rim cast integralwith the flywheel and machined on the inside to provide the grooves forreception of the lugs on the driving disk, and also to provide a forgeddrum machined on the periphery thereof to provide grooves for the lugsof the driven disks. It is obvious that such construction involved agreat deal of weight, and that the machining required made the clutchexpensive. Aside from these disadvantages, which are avoided in thepresent construe tion, the old construction was invariably not nearly socompact as the present one and could not be used in many cases where theclutch of the present invention will be found suitable.

A pressure plate 25 is stamped from sheet metal in keeping with thespirit of this invent-ion, to avoid the weight and machine work involvedin the case of the cast pressure plates, and make for economy, asidefrom the advantages of lightness and greater compactness. The plate 25has its inner edge flanged rearwardly, as shown at 26, to make for thedesired stiffness and strength and insure the trueness of the front facethereof Whereon the pad or facing 18, for cooperation with the rearmostdriven disk 10, is secured. For a similar reason, an inturned annularflange 27 is formed on the back wall 14 of the housing defining thecentral opening 28 provided therein. A plurality of coiled compressionsprings 29, preferably three sets of them, with any suitable number ofsprings in each set, five in this case, are interposed between the backwall 14 of the housing and the pressure plate 25. The back wall issuitably struck to provide hollow arouate heads at three points spacedequally ciroumferentially of the back wall, as indicated at 30, toaccommodate the three sets of springs, and each of these beads hasstruckin bosses 31 formed for reception of the rear ends of the springsin the manner shown in Figure 1 Similar struckout bosses 32 are providedon the pressure plate 25 for reception of the other ends of the springs.The elimination of the separate cups or thimbles heretofore required forreception of the springs not only makes for economy, but simplicity andcompactness, as well as better appearance, and cuts down the number ofparts that has to be handled in assembling.

The back wall 1% of the housing is struck to provide, at three pointsequally spaced circumferentially of the housing, between the sets ofsprings 29, a pair of parallel lugs 33 at opposite sides of a hole 34:,in which a yoke 35 on the pressure plate 25 is snugly received. The yoke35 is substantially U-shaped and preferably formed from a piece of sheetmetal with the inner ends of the arms of the U bent outwardly, as shownat 36, and riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the back of thepressure plate, but having the cross portion thereof projecting throughthe back wall suflicientlyto permit the entering of the outer end of arelease lever 37 in the yoke. The release lever, of which there arethree, one for each yoke 35, is suitably stamped from sheet metal toprovide oppositely directed ears or knuckles 38 intermediate the endsthereof for reception of a pin 39 for pivotally mounting the lever onthe back wall 14. The pin 39 is received in registering notches 40 inthe lugs 33, and is of sufficient length to project appreciably beyondboth of the lugs. The projecting portions of the pin are annularlygrooved, as indicated at 41, to accommodate the coils l2 of a spring 4-3of the door spring type, one active end of which bears against the backwall 14, and the other active end against the back of the release lever,as shown, whereby to urge the release lever to turn normally in aclockwise direction, as

viewed in Figure 1, so that its outer end will be sure to stay inengagement with a set screw 44: threaded in the yoke 35, and the pinwill be sure to stay seated in the notches l0, Each of the springs 13 isso light, as compared with the s rin s 29 that there is of course nopeheeptihle deehease i (th -;pressune with which the plate 25 holds thee gagedlhe screws 4 e :se edjiusted that the inner ends of e l of the reeas lever ere spaeed .e predetermihed di tance {11cm the throw-cutcell-2. shown) when th eluteh is eh- ;geged, so that when the e uteheedel is dep essed 1 01' he release of the velliteh, the .tli ow eut el- 2 .1 will seine in o engagement w t e11 ef the leve ssimultaneouslythe e iu ch pe s or .i eing beeeme worn, it is obviousthat th sc ews 1&4: should behaehefd a turn or so to bring the ele selevers :37 hack to fthe same melatiensh p with the mhnoweeutcollar. A1061; nut he is provided gEor each [of the set s lzews 1 to heldzthesameinedjust: ed position. The yokes 35 serve guides v01 t e pressure pleteon the heck Well-lie r e housi g and p ievent turning of the ,PEGSSUIEBplat r etive to t e hou g, n e dition'to providing a place for cennefiil-lg the releas levels wi h h pressure plate- .Ehe e yokefurthermore, keep the .p ressuize plate in rahi lute y ehee t e ion with:the housing end the other em nts f the cl tch, :the ceii .tral positionof the pressure plate beingobv iousl'y determined ibvzthe heating of theyokes be ween-the pairs f lug 33 dispo ed in the predetermined .angulirrelationship .des ibed :I ,Will belseen th t i thi zphaseef the clutchdesign, es in th e he phases, .1 h a h lted o stampe sheet meta censt uien in pref ence to the heavier end mo e co ly I h ed co ruct on otherwise employed. 7 V

A- tren pl te 46, h ving a pad or facing 18 on th heck hereof o-for.eeep ltetieh with th erem s driven .d'i 1. .l0,,. emp1e t e u h asembly, and is .arne gedk he uit bly secured tethe housing v8 byattachme t fla gei 1 p ei er teem-wee the 7 f ont pl te to the housing,at 31 11 cf the fla ges e7, as indicated t 48 hol 9 through theplet andflanges to .ree iive th bolt .5 flie icstehing fi e clutch es embly to te flyw eel 11 this W y the lu eh m nu ure v ho n ura ly has iai i es 0qu k y assemb ing the ehi eh, can tak ,eer of e1. 2 the a semb ng prations on t clut h a the f etery nd sen the c'l teh t th eer mehufeture a e p essembled unit r ins a la ion n the s mbly fleet, t 0 5 ing tt h s to .b "d e on the assembly fioor being the fastening of the clutchunit to the flyvv heel'hy means of the bolts j50, which obviously willtake very l t le time T hit jh me ife ter r, by viitu'e of thisarrangement, enabled to subject he lu c t inspeetien test, emp' et y{assembled and heady for use, and the oer manufa ur is, herefo e, s utedof f r ty of th ut h eahufe t ueris product end the proper performanceof the clutch in the emb ea 1 per-chance, any hem-- pleint es to t e pea el'meh e 9.1" the el-eteh nd t provide ssheu d arise, the feet thatthe :fnent zplaite iswelt-led to-the heus giprevents .&11'y ta'mpir--illg the clutoh the part of (the employees et Jihe with be shippedthree, as is, end the proper adjustment or srepleeement made. passing,it will ;be (obse v d nthatwthe heusing (8 is :lefit open 1pcrlipheli-ally efllt tljiree points equally spaced cirieumifie ehtial ly:bheneof, between th dle-Sl ng faces '16, as indicated {at 51. Theadvantage in this is that eny eoili, mtegdi-rt or grit {chat may findits way -be tween=the driving and driven disks, willhave enwepportuni-ty,of escaping so as not to interfere with ,the ;;good performance -;ofthe clutch, such foreign nstteri being thrown out by centrifugwl -foneein the itur ning of :the flywheel, espewizdly when .the clutch isdisengaged. V

v 31b is believed $he'0pem-ti0n ozfithe clutch i perfect-1y clear -fromathe ionegoing descripition. Elhe driving and dni e disks are heldinengagement Joy the spring pressure active on he pressure :Platqend thedisengiygement oi the clutch is brought ,eiboutflin the usual way Joyoperation :of the release levers by fiche sh -out cella The claims havebeen drawn with a View its \eeven ng the specific 'cons'tnuctiondisclosed es well as e11 heg timate modifications and adaptations. Itshould .be understood, terexe o le,

tion clutches hauing a single :Qfiil' mcnu'fecturer; the clutch beck tothe clutch amended that many-oi the -features shown 7 herein as embodiedin la-multi ple disk clutch 'wou-ld be suitable dior xuse Qndinar-yfiricdriven clutch disk- "-lxhe' elaims should be consthued Laceondngly.

.I eleim: v v -1. In .a multiple ,d isk clutch, the combinefi with e-.dr-iuin-g element, such as a 51- heel, andedriven element having aplurality .Qgf ,driuenclutch disks, of ahousing for the d i endisksturning with the driving elegnenhsaid housing having a plurality ofequally cincumfi lt hhiazkly spaced elongated spilei n de ving ia espiiovided on the inside .th neof end openings ltherebetween e pluaea-lity olfdrghing clutch disks having a plurali ye e ongated that portionsonthe periphe y thereof snugly engaging the aforesaid drivaEaees'ehd meansfor melea-sebly engaging :th-e driving zinddniuendisks, I :2- A multipledisk .clruteh comprising the a flywheel, and a driven e'qcom-h-i-neltion with a, drivingi element, such as ement, such as .a

rshiafit concentric with the flywheel, of a houssion of dri e fromthelheusi g to the driving clutch disks, each of the driving clutchdisks being stamped from sheet metal, the flat peripheral portionsthereof being defined by flanges struck from said disks to lendstiffness and make for trueness of the disks and also afford broadcontact between the disks and each of the driving surfaces, a drivenmember on the driven element having a plurality of driven clutch diskscarried thereby and projecting between the driving clutch disks, andmeans for releasably engaging the driving and driven disks.

3. In a friction clutch, the combination with a driving element, such asa flywheel, and a driven element, such as'a shaft coaxial with theflywheel, of a housing arranged to turn with the driving element, adriven member within the housing arranged to turn with the drivenelement, and a driving member in the housing arranged to'be turned withthe driving element and to transmit drive to the driven member, thedriving member being provided at points equally spaced angularly thereofwith flat peripheral portions for drive purposes, and the housing beingprovided on the inside thereof at points correspondingly equally spacedangularly of the periphery thereof with fiatdriving surfaces forengagement with the flat peripheral portions of the driving member totransmit drive to the latter and being open peripherally at pointsbetween the driving'surfaces for the purpose described.

4. In a friction clutch, the combination with a driving element, such asa flywheel,

and a driven element, such as a shaft coaxial with the flywheel, of adriven member mounted on and arranged to turn with the driven element, adriving member cooperating with the driven member and arranged to beturned with the driving element, and a housing for the driving anddriven memhers, said housing being formed from a single piece of sheetmetal to provide a back wall in a plane parallel with the driving anddriven members, and fiat peripheral walls equally spacedcircumferentially of the housing. the inside surfaces of said fiatperipheral walls serving as driving faces, the driving member havingflat peripheral portions engaging the said inside surfaces for thetransmission of power from the housing to the driving member, and saidhousing being open peripherally between the flat peripheral walls.

5. A clutch as set forth in claim 41, wherein the housing is furtherformed to provide outwardly projecting flanges at the front end of theflat peripheral walls, said flanges providing a place for attaching thehousing to the driving element. p

6. In a friction clutch, the combination with the back plate andpressure plate, of a plurality of yoke members, each formed from asingle piece of sheet metal to approximately U-form with the ends of thearms of the U suitably secured to the back of the pressure plate, andwith the rest of the U projecting through a guide opening providedtherefor in the back plate, there being spring means acting between theback plate and the pressure plate normally urging the latter away fromformer, and a plurality of release levers, one for each of the yokemembers, each pivotally mounted on the back plate intermediate the endsthereof and having the outer end extending into the projectingend of theyoke member associated therewith, and having the inner end arranged tohave pressure exerted thereon for moving the pressure plate against theaction of the spring means.

'7. In a friction clutch, the combination withthe back plate andpressure plate, of a plurality of yoke members, each formed from asingle piece of sheet metal to approximately U-form with the ends of thearms of the U suitably secured to the back of the pressure plate, andwith the rest of the U projecting through a guide opening providedtherefor in the back plate, there being spring means acting between theback plate and the pressure plate normally urging the latter away fromthe former, and a plurality of release levers on the back of the backplate, one for each of the yoke members, each of said levers beingextended through the projecting end of the yoke member associatedtherewith and pivoted on the back plate whereby when movement iscommunicated to the release lever the pressure plate is moved againstthe action of the spring means.

8. A clutch as set forth in claim 7, wherein the back plate is formed ofsheet metal stamped to provide a pair of outwardly projecting parallellugs at opposite sides of each of the guide openings slidably engagingthe outside of the arms of the yoke member projecting through the guideopening, and wherein the release lever associated with the yoke memberhas a pintle for pivotally mounting the same on the back plate receivedat its ends in the aforesaid lugs.

9. A clutch as set forth in claim 7 wherein each of said release leversis stamped from sheet metal of the-proper width to fit neatly in theprojecting end of the yoke member associated therewith, there being apintle for pivotally mounting the same on the back plate, eachof saidlevers being struck so as to provide oppositely directed knuckles forreception therein of the pintle in transverse relation to the lever.

10. A clutch as set forth in claim 7, wherein the back plate is formedof sheet metal stamped to provide a pair of outwardly projectingparallel lugs at opposite sides of each of the guide openings slidablyengaging the outside of the arms of the yoke m mber projecting throughthe guide opening, there being a pintle for pivotally mounting a releaselever on the back plate received at its ends in the aforesaid lugs, andthe release lever asso-" ciated with the yoke member being stamped fromsheet metal to the proper Width to fit neatly in the projecting end ofthe yoke member, the said release lever being further struck to provideoppositely directed knuckles thereon for reception of the pintle thereinin transverse relation to the lever.

In witness of the foregoing I afiiX my signature.

CARL A. RUESENBERG.

